I saw a sign in a store that read, “I can’t wait for the day when we have an education budget that can’t be cut and have to hold a bake sale to fund our weapons program.”
As the landscape of the 2012 Presidential Race starts to take shape, I’ve been thinking a lot about our society’s priorities and how backward so many of them seem. This sign popped up in my life as if to encourage this train of thought. Why is funding for education so susceptible to cuts while re-engineering our defense budget is always off the table? Too many kids have too few options. In several neighborhoods only blocks from where I live, kids have two choices of how they spend their time: the classroom or the streets.
Why do we have such a hard time taking the long view? Why can’t we see that healthcare and a good education are the fundamental building blocks for every productive member of society?
Why are social services seen as expendable when they are literally a matter of life and death for far too many Americans? Does that mean we’re saying those people are expendable, too?
Why does the personal wealth of a candidate have more to do with the viability of their campaign than their ability to empathic and charismatic?
And why is it that we have a possible candidate in the running who says on national television, “let other nations fend for themselves”?
If we want our country and our world to change, we need to change our own communities first and that will require shifting our priorities. The focus has to be on what we do for our children. We have to have their best interests in mind if we hope to have a country and a world we’re proud of.
Published by Christa Avampato
IN BRIEF
Author, journalist, digital product manager, and licensed New York City tour guide. Creator and host of NYC's Secrets and Lies. Alumna of the University of Pennsylvania (BA), the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA), Arizona State University (Biomimicry), and the University of Cambridge (MSt in Sustainability Leadership).
I build digital media platforms, report on urban climate resilience and biodiversity, and produce live narrative experiences that connect communities to history, nature, and place.
THE DEEP DIVE
My work centers on a single thread: building systems and stories that foster deep connection to our shared world. Across digital streaming, environmental reporting, and live civic storytelling, I design experiences that help people understand complex ideas and the environments around them.
DIGITAL PRODUCT STRATEGY & MEDIA LEADERSHIP
At Carnegie Hall, I serve as Digital Product Manager, leading product strategy, operations, and technical delivery for the video streaming platform Carnegie Hall+. I translate artistic mission into scalable, high-performance streaming architecture that reaches audiences globally. Previously, I led agile product and delivery teams across operations and compliance at American Express, managed Broadway theatrical productions and national tours, and guided strategic initiatives across cultural institutions.
ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM & AUTHORSHIP
As a freelance journalist, I investigate how living systems, urban infrastructure, and human culture intersect. My reported features on urban decarbonization, biodiversity, coastal resilience, and biomimicry appear in publications including Smithsonian Magazine, The Washington Post, Mongabay, Natural History Magazine, and Foreign Policy Magazine. In fiction, I write the Emerson Page young adult novel series, alongside upcoming historical fiction and nonfiction works on New York history, mythology, and human resilience. I also write Togetherhood, a LinkedIn newsletter focused on urban ecology and community restoration, and co-host the podcast Frameworks in the Wild.
LIVE EXPERIENCE & CIVIC STORYTELLING
As a licensed New York City tour guide and live event producer, I transform urban landscapes into shared narrative encounters. I created, produce, and host NYC's Secrets and Lies, an interactive live storytelling series staged across cultural landmarks including the New York Transit Museum, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the historic tall ship Wavertree. I also design and lead site-specific walking tours exploring coastal ecology, food history, and neighborhood evolution, often with partners at Climate Week NYC and the Natural Areas Conservancy.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING MEDIA
Through my independent production studio, Double or Nothing Media, I develop ventures across media, ecology, and public history:
Digital Products & Strategy: Architecting scalable digital platforms, streaming experiences, and operational models for mission-driven institutions.
Environmental Reporting & Publications: Delivering long-form reporting, books, and newsletters grounded in climate resilience and regenerative design.
Site-Specific Live Storytelling: Producing immersive live shows and educational walking tours that engage public audiences in community history.
CONNECT
Website & Production Hub: doubleornothingmedia.com and christaavampato.com
Newsletter: Togetherhood on LinkedIn - linkedin.com/newsletters/togetherhood-7273771832221089792/
Instagram & Threads: @christarosenyc
Emerson Page Novels: emersonpagebook.wordpress.com/
View all posts by Christa Avampato
I saw a sign in a store that read, “I can’t wait for the day when we have an education budget that can’t be cut and have to hold a bake sale to fund our weapons program.” 
Christa,
Thanks for writing this post.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
A global world is a world of interdependencies. There is no longer a we/they dichotomy between and among nations. In fact, it is our way of thinking that created such dichotomies in the first place.
Charity begins at home, but we have got to reach the conclusion that home is planet earth. Somewhow, we have to figure out a way to survive here. We all sink or swim together.
Philanthropy should extend beyond your shores because there is no such thing as my shore versus your shore. Everybody is on this shore and everybody counts, matters.
We need to embrace all human lives, and that means adding value and contribution to society at large and the common weal. That means contributing monies to social services, education and exercising corporate social responsibility.
It also means stopping the march of environmental degradations by planting more trees, being kind to animals, and leaving the world a better place than you found it. It means stepping away from consumerism and materialism in favour of the simpler pleasures of life. And having a yearning and appreciation for the arts and things that are beautiful.
Thanks.
Cheers.
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Hi Archan,
A friend of mine just sent me a message to think that the quote from the sign I saw was a popular bumpsticker during the Vietnam War. Almost 40 years later, we’re still wishing for the same thing. Wild. I think I’m going to go back to that store and buy that sign.
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My dear-blogger-friend, Christa,
I worked in the world of quality assurance for over 25 years. One of the most important tools to get to the root cause of a problem is to ask at least five “whys”. Keep digging down, because the answer to the first why is rarely at the root cause level.
Not only is this important to health care and education, but to green house emissions. Defense uses so much fossil fuel that it makes our collective effort to recycle and save energy like a teardrop in a sea of excess.
Thank you for asking so many wise whys. Now we just need to get to the answers.
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I totally agree! The environment has such a drastic effect on our daily lives and yet it is seen by too many as just another charitable cause. If we don’t protect the environment, there won’t be any reason to protect anything else.
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